Lampwork or Clay goodies in designing, gathering findings, tools and other found objects

in our home jewelry and crafting stashes.

The task:each
participant was sent a bead kit with either artisan made lampwork beads
or artisan made clay beads/pendants. Participants were instructed to
use these components in conjunction with other beads on their bead
table (but not to purchase new beads).

My story: Early this summer I co-created Clay Play Day

here in Las Vegas. A friend and I wanted to do more than bead and crochet. Both of us work at Michaels and teach. I teach jewelry & she teaches crochet. Between the 2 of us we could open up our own mini craft store. It started with the 2 of us at her home. We've expanded and are fortunate to have a friend who owns a bead shop and offered for us to bring Clay Play Day to her store Sweet Beads. Sometimes there's just a few of us and other times 6 or more. We'll meet 1-2 times per month for a FREE social event. Some bring books from the library or what they picked up at a local store for inspiration or tutorials to choose from. My birthday was in July and I received some lovely orange tiger lily flowers from my mother. I wanted them to last forever. So when they started to wilt, I took all the petals off and placed them in an open sandwich bag. I let them completely dry out. During one of our Clay Play Day's I brought the dried flowers and made a clay lentil bead. I made a mini version of the vase of tiger lilies on the lentil bead. Once the bead was baked, the tiger lilies turned a deep purple color. I made this lentil bead before receiving my assortment of Ceramic by Grubbi from Natalie Mckenna

http://www.grubbi.etsy.com

I've had many ideas on what I wanted to do with the ceramic, but nothing really felt right until Tuesday, November 12th, 2013. This was the monthly meeting of the Las Vegas Bead Society. I happen to work well under pressure closer to the end date. I don't always see it as procrastination, but I seem to do my best work that way. Tonight was a social gathering for the LVBS members and I put the final touches of chain and a clasp on my whimsical piece this evening.

I included some dark blue crystal beads and white donuts from a recent swap that I participated in through Bead Swap USA. My partner Chris Schlicht sent so many beads I've never seen or worked with before for our "Cat Tones" swap.

I feel that I accomplished a lot by combining this blog hop with a recent bead swap. Please take the time to enjoy the work done by all participants.